Portable electronics, such as cell phones, tablet computers, laptops, solid-state data storage devices, portable instruments, and other small computerized devices are becoming increasingly popular. Currently, many portable electronics contain one or more power supplies and power convertors. The need for many power supplies has caused an increasing need for more effective power convertors. Existing power convertors suffer from a myriad of problems. Such problems include large size, inflexible format, problems associated with heat removal, the need to incorporate many customized active and passive components, and the requirement for expensive tooling.
There is a need for a power convertor device that is easily developed and does not require extensive use of customized parts. A package of this sort should have excellent thermal properties and small size. Such packages should be manufactureable, testable, and subject to prototyping, all at a relatively low cost. It will be advantageous if such packages would not require expensive tooling or expensive retooling when small changes are made to the package. Such packaging technologies should be scalable to a wide range of input/output voltages and currents, they should facilitate a wide range of form factors, and provide appropriate and efficient interfaces for heatsink attachment. Also, operability at relatively high switching frequencies is an important objective.
In the current state of the art, not package fabrication methodologies or package designs can capture all of these objectives or even a majority of them. Accordingly, there is a need for improved package design and improved device capability.
An apparatus and method for making semiconductor packages and also semiconductor packages using voltage controllers with inductors, capacitors, and resistors, co-located within them, is therefore needed. Although existing technologies work well for various applications, there are ongoing efforts to improve the performance and reduce the footprint of wireless components.